Long spectacular as Rox blank Worcester

Saturday

Aug 29, 2009 at 12:01 AMAug 29, 2009 at 8:24 PM

Mark Ducharme

Rox pitcher Jeff Long did not need to consult a psychic hotline on Friday.

The Rox’ right-hander had Worcester hitters wondering if they were involved in the post-game ghost hunt. Long dominated the Tornadoes’ lineup and did not give them a ghost of a chance as the Rox won,6-0, on Paranormal Night at Campanelli Stadium.

“It is one thing that we talked about was to pound the zone early,” said Long. “We wanted to make them swing the bats. We saw that was their approach to swing the bat early, and we decided that we would go right at them. I worked on staying back and getting my fastball to have a little more movement, and we were able to throw it across the plate.”

“They were either going to swing the bat or they were going to be down 0-1 or 0-2. I can’t say enough about my defense.”

The Rox’ defense was sharp behind Long, who recorded 12 groundouts and 11 flyouts. He gave up three hits, struck out three and walked two in a complete-game performance.

The only time Long (6-4) had any problem was in his 16-pitch fourth inning. Worcester put the first two hitters on, but Long got Carlos Sosa to pop out, Jud Thigpen made a sliding catch on a Chris Colabello sinking line drive, and Nick Salotti, who leads the Can-Am League in hitting, fouled out to end the threat.

“No doubt Jeff was in control,” said Rox shortstop Dominic Ramos. “He was keeping the ball down and the umpire was giving him the low pitch and Worcester could not do anything with it.”

Long, who retired 14 of the last 15 batters, was in command for most of the night.

“It is fair to say that Long was on tonight,” said Worcester manager Rich Gedman. “He established the strike zone early.”

Said Rox manager Chris Carminucci: “It was early hitting and Long was great. He was a guy that we were looking at for a big performance tonight, because we got to think about who is going to throw in the playoffs. He did a great job, it was very encouraging.”

“I think when you jump out on a team, they press a little bit. We have done that when teams have jumped out ahead of us. Jeff never gave in and he kept them off balance.”

Keith Brachold made sure Long got the early lead as he drilled Zach Zuercher’s (7-5) first pitch in the third inning for a three-run home run that gave the Rox a 3-0 lead.

If Carminucci was looking for another positive sign for the playoffs, it was the offensive night for rookie centerfielder Chris Valencia, who was 0-for-17 in the Quebec series. Valencia was 4-for-4, scored two runs and drove in two runs on Friday night.

“I guess I like hitting at home,” joked Valencia. “I was just trying to work on hitting the ball the other way. I got away from it, but tonight I worked on my plan and everything worked out.”

Said Carminucci: “We actually told Chris tonight where first base was. He had forgot where it was. It is his rookie year and he handles everything professionally. He goes out there and works and Chris was excited to have a big night.”

Valencia punched a single to left to score Thigpen in the fourth inning and another single to left scored Phillip Cuadrado in the eighth inning to put the Rox up 6-0. Thigpen also had a sacrifice fly to score Palmer Karr in the eighth inning.

The Rox honored the passing of Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy with a moment of silence before the game.